Summer rain
by spellbound forever
Summary: "You're a really weird human you know?" "And you're a really weird god." "Ow." So there was a summer rain, an unusual encounter, and a ridiculous December love. "But you're a human, remember that." (Inspired by a bunch of yokai/ supernatural stories, but was driven to write this out all because of Hotarubi no Mori e. I need something to pacify me. Plenty of story references.)
1. Encounter

**Summer rain**

* * *

><p>Every summer, Masayuki Hori will travel to his uncle's house thirty miles away from his own house to spend his school vacation. It may be humid and extremely glaring in that time of the year, but his relative's countryside house never fails to provide a cooling shelter to ward to summer devils out.<p>

This year was the same.

Eight years old, a scrawny boy for his age. Masayuki stood in front of his uncle's house after a minute's walk from the bus stop, an oversized T-shirt draping over his thin frame and baggy maroon shorts, his dirty sneakers making crunchy sounds on the dirt. He raised his small fist and banged on the door, which opened straight after.

"Masayuki! It's so nice to meet you again! A year sure pass quickly!" A gray wrinkled face beamed at him and the door opened up fully, a similar wrinkled hand reaching out to take his nephew's belongings. "Where's your mother? Just went off?"

"She went on a business trip in America." The coyote brown hair boy replied as he began to take out his shoes. "I came alone." He added a little grumpily.

Mr. Hori gave a short amused laugh in return, "Hahaha, looks like I'll had to treat my dearest nephew something before he pass out for the rest of the day then! How would you like some watermelons?"

"Yes please!" The little boy's eyes immediately light up in relief. His uncle laughed again before finally taking him inside, shutting the aged wooden door behind them.

* * *

><p>Masayuki had always love his uncle's house. It was big and airy, filled with an enormous amount of nature that his city house could never contain He love the neat appearance of the architecture, the faint smell of its beech wood self, and best of all, the large veranda overlooking a forest. When he was much younger, uncle often told him stories about that mysterious place. From afar, it may appear to be like any other similar forests, but if you pay attention to it long enough, you will feel an aura of some sort, calm and peaceful, flowing out and running through your veins. But Hori had always felt that the forest sends him a chill down his spine whenever he looked at it; though it was a good kind of chill.<p>

Masayuki had thought of wanting to visit that mystical place when he first learnt from his uncle, however, rumours in the village forbid him from going any nearer, saying that the forest is filled with dangerous spirits and yokai. Every year, the village will invite priests to renew spells that bind the place, therefore the forest managed to give people additional creeps from the amount of talismans and charms to prevent any evil creatures lurking within to come out.

He sat on the bench holding a slice of watermelon and glanced briefly at the supposedly banned region, nothing extraordinary happened except the peaceful ambience, the forest is still as calm and inexplicable as always, yet somehow, deep down in his heart, he felt that maybe, just maybe, something might happen this year.

* * *

><p>Masayuki laid on the floor lazily. It was raining.<p>

Summer rain tend to be frequent at his uncle's place; raining at least every two to three weeks. Mr Hori had said that it's probably due to the area they lived in, and being so close to such a big forest and a colossal canal of river running through a few feet away from his residence.

"Hot." He mumbled. Vacant eyes stared at the ceiling, ears listening to the sounds created by the rain, a hand reaching up to wipe the sweat off his forehead as he attempted to fan himself with a discarded commercial leaflet. He turned his head to face the wet veranda, gazing blankly at nothing until…

He blinked. First, twice, thrice. That person is still there.

Where did he came from? He was sure that no one was there before, but now, there's clearly somebody standing in the rain, standing in the courtyard.

If it's a trick of the rain it had certainly perform well, Hori thought, squinting his eyes in attempt to see the person clearly. He was convinced that was not his uncle at all.

The person stood there, letting the rain beat down on him, he seemed harmless.

Until he began to walk in a slow pace, in the direction of the Masayuki.

Masayuki's eyes widened in fear and curiosity when he saw the person started walking towards him He tried sitting up, but realised he couldn't in his absolute horror; it was as though there's a force putting him back to place and forced him to watch the figure getting closer and closer like some kind of horror films. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out, so he gave up and went back staring at the person. When the figure is finally clear enough, he was shock to realise he was actually, a female. She dressed weirdly, but was clearly a fashion from the Edo period. The boy thought her attire resembles a shrine maiden, except that she was wearing a dress instead of a pair of hakama. Also, the sleeves and the ends of the dress are so long they pooled around her, making her look as though she was floating instead of walking. She also wore a farmer's hat, with a translucent veil and a suspicious looking paper (which Hori was sure that it's a talisman) pasted on the centre. She appears to be elegant looking, and gives off a rather forlorn yet enigmatic aura that sent shivers down his spine.

In the back of his mind, a voice whispered to him that he had seen the unseen, a being from the other side, most likely from the rumoured forest.

'Shit.' He cursed inwardly.

The being did not seem to be interested of him however, she just continued her slow pace up the veranda stairs and into the house; her attire surprising dry, as if as she had never been in the rain before. Her steps, like a cat, possessed no sound when she walked, even when she crossed by the child. She was so near to Masayuki, yet the boy could not hear or feel her existence, only a faint, barely unnoticeable rustle of the fabric and a soft tinkling of shrine bells in the background. Masayuki looked up from the corner of his eyes when she passed by him and was a little taken aback by the short cobalt blue hair of hers. She wore an impassive look; thin lips with a tint of peach pull taunt, a small dainty nose and a pair of bright green eyes that the boy thought it shone. It was a mere second when the boy thought that the maiden had looked at him at the corner of her eyes, then disappeared.

The entire being vanished in front of his very eyes like a show, causing the boy to widen his eyes again, and tried moving his body again, this time successfully. to his relief He sat up immediately, looking around frantically for traces of the woman. But she's not there, not even a hint.

The boy felt his heart beating rapidly in his chest, he stood up shakily and ran to find his uncle.

* * *

><p>"Ah that." Mr Hori said after hearing his nephew's strange encounter, "You've probably met a rain god."<p>

"Rain god?" Masayuki frowned.

"Yes, a rain god." The older man sighed, sitting down on an armchair and lifted his nephew onto his lap. "As you know, this area rains a lot, but it's not really due to the abundance of flora and water. This place is also the residence of a rain god."

"Is h-she from the forest?"

"Certainly, that forest." His uncle nodded. "That was no trick of the rain. When I was a child, I too, had met the rain god for a few times, exactly the same appearance you've described, though not as detailed as I had never seen her face. She used to stand in that courtyard when it's raining, but never moved, therefore I was quite surprise when you said she entered the house."

Masayuki was fascinated yet astounded at the same time when his uncle revealed this secret to him that he forgot to respond but continued looking at Mr Hori.

The man smiled wistfully at the ceiling and rocked the chair back and forth, letting the silence filled the air before speaking to him.

"Because I've never thought you will be able to see her since the people I've told couldn't see her either, so I just let it slide. Guess you're really lucky then. Rumour says that the rain god brings peace and luck to whoever who met her, so most likely you won't be having any troubles for the rest of the year then."

The boy remained silent and relaxed in his uncle's arms.

Outside, the rain had stopped.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

**Sorry I just need to take a break for now to get inspired for my other stories. Thank you for reading. (Bows)**

**Update: Sorry for confusing Masayuki Hori's surname I just got careless and felt kind of weird after editing because I heard too much Hori. Some grammar edits had also been made to the story, sorry for any inconvenience.**


	2. Curiosity

**Summer rain**

* * *

><p>Masayuki stood in front of a Shinto gate.<p>

The sun was bright today.

It didn't rain for the next few days the boy had expected, not because he enjoyed the coolness of it, but he wanted to meet that strange being again. The rain god, that is.

Uncle Hori had jokingly said that if he went to the shrine at the entrance of that forest, he may be able to see it. After all, a god cannot deny a human's wish; it's their job to fulfil anyway.

And so, Masayuki decided to take that risk, though he was afraid.

Now he stood here, staring at the fading red paint of the gate, admiring the beautiful greenery at the entrance of the forest. The rustling of soft green leaves and bird songs filled the air, like what he'd expected from a forest of unknowns.

'Kind of like _Spirited Away_.' He thought, reaching a hand out to touch the smooth wooden surface of the sacred gate. A cool breeze curled by, rippling through his fine hair and his oversized shirt. The boy took a moment to close his eyes and appreciate it.

He was so lost in the feeling that he didn't notice somebody is sitting on the gray stone stairs of the entrance.

"You came." A whispery voice of a woman's crept in, startling him greatly that he jumped in fright and back away a few steps hurriedly, nearly falling down. A loud amused laugh sounded in the background.

Masayuki took a while to regain his standing and focus before looking up quickly and shouting indignantly, "Stop laughter you stalker! Don't you know how to be polite?"

"Eh… but I'm here before you came…" The person scratched her head in confuse, "I thought that doesn't count as being impolite."

"Stop bluffing! I didn't see anyone jus-"Masayuki stopped in the middle of his anger and widened his eyes as big as dinner plates when he realised who is he talking to. He immediately backed away some more steps.

The person sitting on the stone steps was wearing a white haori and a long scarlet dress reaching down about two to three steps from her seat, her cobalt blue hair and emerald green eyes shone in the morning light.

She's- "Where's your hat?" The boy blurted out and regretted it the next second. What is wrong with him, he wondered angrily, that is not a proper way to greet a deity, especially one he had just met. Oh shoot he's going to die and nobody will ever heard of him again, he's going to be a laughing stock in the village. A boy died because he ask about a god's missing hat on first meeting is not a death reason he wanted to have, and he haven't told his uncle that meeting rain gods doesn't mean he will have peace and luck but a painful death in hell he needs to be compensated with the leftover watermelons which are still in the fridge-

"Oh, I forgot to wear it today. Do you not like it? But I don't want to travel back to Chiyo's place again…"

Eh?

So he's not dying? He can't have the rest of the watermelons? Wait, who's Chiyo?

"Chiyo?" He did it again.

'Why am I going along with the flow-?!' Hori yelled in the back of his mind and slumped onto the ground, banging his fist on it and creating faint clouds of dirt.

"Erm, she's a good friend of mine. Oh I know! We can go to her house! So you won't need to wait for me and I'll be presentable enough for you! Man I'm such a genius!"

Masayuki stared blankly at the blue hair maiden's annoyingly proud expression as she pounded her fist onto her palm once she reached her ideal solution. His mind was a total blank from the sudden outcome except for four insulting words to a god.

'Is she an idiot?'

* * *

><p>Masayuki found himself traveling with the god he had called an idiot.<p>

They walked up the flight of stone stairs, ducking under tree branches and avoiding deep puddles of water at the side. The forest is unusually normal, he mused as he looked at the surprisingly 'short enough to see through' grass and ferns. The place is mostly shades of green, only occasional foreign flowers blooming by the side, small and pretty. The place was unexceptionally cool as well, small breezes occurring from time to time, echoing through the forest. From afar at some point, he also noticed a small brown shrine sitting on a large stone, almost camouflaged by the long grass and trees.

"Beautiful isn't it?" The deity smiled as she noticed her little companion's engrossment to the surroundings, "I don't get it why humans don't dare to explore this place. It's lovely."

"But overflowing with spirits and yokai." Masayuki said, still admiring the scenery. "And people like you."

"Tsh, you humans are such scaredy cats." The god said, the pout in her voice was evident, "This forest is as meek as any other forests you've seen."

"If you say so…" Masayuki was obviously unconvinced. They continued walking up the stairs; the boy had begun to feel the burn in his muscles from the extensive climbing, while the other's movements are still as fluid as ever, the wooden clogs she wore on her sock covered feet which the boy had caught a glimpse while climbing remained soundless as usual.

So much for being a god.

They arrived at said Chiyo's shrine fifteen minutes later; Masayuki bent over and panted after the exercise. The god walked up to the sandy colour door and knocked twice. It opened in a rush, causing a huge gush of wind blowing in their faces.

"Ah Kashima there you are! You've forgotten you hat!" A petite girl in a long flowered kimono came running towards her, orange hair bouncing off her shoulders, causing the two big red bows tied at the sides to flutter as well. "Sheesh you've always careless." She shook her head and handed said deity's hat to her.

"Heh heh I'm sorry." Kashima apologised with a sheepish smile and put it back on her head, the translucent veil slide down gently. Masayuki watched in awe as the image he had feared and respected appear in front of him once again.

"Tada! How do I look now?" The maiden turned to the little boy and asked with a stupidly happy face and arms spread wide.

But her voice ruined it, Masayuki thought bitterly.

"No comment." He answered deadpanned, causing Kashima to turn back to Chiyo and flinged on her, sobbing grossly, "Chiyo what am I gonna do I'm not presentable enough-"

A sweatdrop slide down Chiyo's face as she patted her tall friend with a 'I don't know what to do with this girl' face and consoled her. "There, there." She sighed, then whispered to Masayuki, "Sorry for letting you see such state."

"…"

* * *

><p>"My name is Chiyo Sakura, you can call me Sakura, I supposed you would have guessed already, I'm a god, a god of harvest to be accurate." Sakura smiled as she reintroduced herself and pointed to the now quietly sipping tea Kashima, "This is as you've heard just now, Yuu Kashima, the god of rain. Feel free to call her by her name as well, she likes it."<p>

Masayuki nodded at the introduction and stood up to introduced himself in return. "My name is Masayuki Hori, nice to meet you." He said with a bow.

"You're such a well-mannered child." Sakura beamed, "There's no need to be formal. You can treat us as your family."

"But-" Masayuki started, but stopped when he saw Sakura's smile grew wider. "Ye-yes Sakura-san."

"Sakura will do." The god insisted, but let go and brought up a new topic, "What makes you come here aside the fact that Kashima pulled you in Hori?"

"I…I got curious…" Masayuki stuttered, fidgeting a little, "I saw Kashima in my uncle's courtyard a few days ago when it was raining so I decided to find her…" His eyes darted at the rain god's direction, "And uncle says that if I come here I may be able to meet her…"

"Your uncle's a clever man." Sakura chuckled, bringing a cup to her mouth, "Kashima never turn down a request, believer or not." She took another sip, "But Kashima, why did you go to somebody's house again?"

"I like humans' residence." Kashima said bluntly, "And I found a stray spirit in there, so I went in to shoo it away."

"Why can't I move then?" Masayuki wondered aloud. Hearing that, Sakura laughed.

"Kashima must have set the barrier up, it usually keeps her completely invisible since rain often leaked out her presence, and it has a side effect of immobilising humans. Sorry for frightening you."

Just then, Kashima spoke with a frown on her thin brows, "But why are you able to see me? I'm sure my barrier has no faults…"

"Not just me, my uncle saw you too when he's young." Masayuki said, drinking from the china cup, the tea was rather fragrant he noted.

"Maybe both of you have a third eye then, who knows?" Sakura said. "And maybe not fully opened, that's why your uncle didn't see her again when he grew up."

"Oh."

* * *

><p>When Masayuki left Sakura's shrine it was late afternoon. Kashima walked him back down to the entrance and said, "You're a very interesting human. I like you." She paused for a while before asking, "Are you coming back again?"<p>

Masayuki doubted of wanting to meet this strange god again, but deep down he was quite happy. Having gods as friends is such a privilege, so he replied, "Maybe tomorrow."

The smile he was given was a beautiful, genuine smile.

For the first time, he felt that she's really beautiful.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

**My initial idea was to make Kashima a more mature god but somehow my hands refused to do so. I guess her personality could't be easily changed.**

**Thank you for reading. (Bows)**

**P.S. Thank you _no life 00_ for your kind words oh yes I really hoped I am able get back on track with my other stories again. Actually this was initially planned as a oneshot but somehow I just couldn't write out as a single chapter. I am glad that you enjoyed it. (Bows)**


	3. Familiarize

**Summer rain**

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><p>Masayuki ended up spending the whole summer with the rain god. Every morning, he will go to the forest and finds Kashima sitting on the stairs, sometimes with a racoon dog, sometimes with Sakura, but most of the time she will sat there alone with a hand cradling her cheek or smoking a strange twig to relieve her boredom.<p>

"You're smoking again."

The rain god looked up to see a scrawny boy dressed in his usual oversized outfit and his signature impassive expression activated.

"How many times have I told you I'm not smoking…"The blue hair female sighed, pulling down her veil, "It's a toy."

"You're smoking." Masayuki repeated, deadpanned.

"I'm telling the truth!" Kashima huffed out in irritation, but let go the next second and her eyes glittered excitedly, "Hey hey let me show you something fun today!" She stood up, grabbed Masayuki and began running up the stairs.

* * *

><p>They went admiring a certain racoon dog bringing back small animal carcasses below a mountain, though Masayuki wore a look of disgust.<p>

"That's not something worth to see."

"But she felt that it's fun!" Kashima retorted, pulling up her skirt a little as they squatted around the carcasses, Masayuki's nose wrinkled from the odour.

"She, that racoon dog felt that it was fun, not you." This was not a question.

"As long as she felt that it is fun, it is fun!" The rain god argued, just then said animal came back again, this time a dead frog.

"Don't tell me she's eating that." The boy muttered in revulsion.

"I don't know." The god admitted, "But frog legs taste good."

"No thank you." Masayuki said and stood up, brushing dust off his legs and looked up to the sky. It was a fascinating azure blue, wisps of clouds scattered across the horizon. Beside him, his companion picked up a stray twig and put it in her mouth, dragging out a long puff of white smoke.

"Stop smoking." Masayuki said, raising a hand to fan off the incoming smoke.

"It's not smoke… fine I gave up, it's a mushi infected twig." Kashima sighed, "I'm communicating." She pointed at the white smoke, "And those are mushi."

"Huh…" A heap of question marks light up Masayuki's mind. "You're communicating with that mushi?"

"Not really, I'm using the mushi as a communication tool." The blue hair maiden said, watching the huge white cotton like smoke float up slowly towards the sky and vanished. They stared at it for a while before the rain god spoke again.

"Gonna rain today." She put the twig back to her mouth and began walking away, with Masayuki running after her.

"Hey, tell me more about that mushi thing." Masayuki said as they walked through a curtain of ferns.

"Meh it's hard to explain clearly, but it's something that normal people couldn't see, like yokai."

"Then," The boy frowned, "is that a mushi too?" He pointed at a weird looking flower walking pass them, using roots as its feet. The duo stopped their tracks and observed in fascination until it crossed to the other side of their feet.

"That just a plant yokai, a thousand year old stupid flower." Kashima brushed away with a totally uninterested look after a while. "Mushi, is a part of what shapes this world itself."

Masayuki took no notice of Kashima's explanation, he was more perturbed about something else.

"You just called a thousand year old yokai stupid." He narrowed his eyes at the rain god, who shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter, I'm older than it anyway."

"Exactly, how old are you..."

"Don't remember, maybe about five thousand, more or less."

A sweat drop slid down from the child's head.

"The mushi seemed to be less here… but hey, that one above your head, yes the weird floating jellyfish thingy, now that's a mushi."

Masayuki looked above and true enough, there was a mushi floating above his head. He reached up a hand but was slapped away by the god.

"I'll advise you not to touch them, I might not understand mushi well, but they can be really dangerous."

The boy retreated to her side. Kashima chuckled a little and let him grabbed her skirt as they continued their stroll, "There was a mushishi here once, he's really a dare devil. I learnt most things from him… even gods aren't really knowledgeable you know?"

"Can tell." Masayuki mumbled.

Kashima snorted at her human companion's bluntness, "I lived here for most of my life, so I don't really know about the world itself. Chiyo used to go out to explore though, so I had a vague understanding about the changing of the surroundings."

Masayuki looked up at the god, at the same time, a small breeze brushed pass, making the surrounding flora sway and danced. He was a little caught up against the atmosphere that he nearly forgotten what he was going to ask.

"Say Kashima, why do you not go out and explore by yourself?"

Said female looked down, a tiny smile tilted up, "I can't leave this place."

Masayuki blinked in surprise, "Why not?"

"I was bounded here by a priest a long time ago, until the day I vanish."

* * *

><p>Soon, summer ended.<p>

Masayuki played with the fishes with a twig as he and Kashima sat on a grassy bank. The scenery was enchanting, a small crystal clear pond surrounded by an abundance of trees and flowers, and a right amount of sunlight peeking through a circular empty space at the top, giving this place a soft glow of the afternoon light.

"Kashima." He started, jerking the twig slightly when one of the fishes got the end, creating a small ripple on the clear smooth surface, "I won't be able, to come here tomorrow. I told you before haven't I? That I'm staying at my uncle's place for the summer? So I have to go home tomorrow."

Kashima dropped the racoon dog she was holding to, earning a cry and a smack on the face from the frightened animal.

"Eh?" She held her injured side gingerly, "EH?!" She repeated again, this time ten times louder accompanied with an extremely shocked expression, eyebrows furrowed and eyes widened as large as the size of dinner plates, earning a totally unamused face from the latter as he paused his ministrations. Cricket sounds filled the background.

"I've told you before."

"Oh." The rain god drooped her head dramatically, her racoon dog continued hissing at her menacingly, "Sorry, I've forgotten."

Masayuki looked at her for a while before turning his attention back to the fishes and picked up his temporary abandoned stick. They continued this silence for a minute or two before the boy spoke again, "But I'll be back the next summer though…"

Kashima looked up in a flash, Masayuki ignored her and continued with his eyes on his recreated distraction, "And the summer after that, and the summer after the next summer…Mmp!"

He was thrown off from his balance from the sudden hug the blue hair god had given forcefully.

"I'll look forward!"

And so the following day, Masayuki stared at the forest until it shrank into nothing from his seat in the bus. He swore aside his uncle's wave, he saw a tiny figure waving at him somewhere from the forest.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

**Hey, thanks for reading. (Bows)**

**_no life 00 _thanks being being in love.**

**Updates for this fic will be erratic, but it will be surprisingly fast, at least everyday, at most a month which I had restricted myself to if there are no obstructions. Every story I've created is my baby, so I will never, ever abandon them. Send me a scolding if you felt that I'm too slow in my tumblr (See bio), I'll gladly give you some stupid excuse. (Joking joking) **

**I don't know if I'm going on the right track, but I'll do my best to make every story of mine a not 'too idiotic to be read' fic. Having people enjoying my stories is one of my life's pleasure after all. Once again, thank you. (Bows)**


	4. Daze

**Summer rain**

* * *

><p>~.~<p>

Afterwards, every following summer was a special excitement as Kashima waited at the entrance of the forest impatiently for her summer companion to arrive. In return, Masayuki kept his promise, going to the forest after he arrived at his uncle's place, sometimes with treats from the human realm requested by the curious god since she could not leave her place.

"Yo."

Kashima was dozing off under a tree at the forest entrance until a familiar voice woke her up. She rubbed her eyes to clear the blurriness and lifted her head up to see a certain young boy standing in front of her, half towering over.

"Hori!"

Masayuki snorted and held out a plastic container, "These are the blueberry pancakes you've requested, it won't last long in the hot weather so I suggest you eat it now."

Kashima snatched up almost immediately and eagerly click open the container. She picked up a pancake and take a deep breath, inhaling the delicious sweet aroma and cried, "Oh my goodness it smells heavenly! This is amazing Hori!"

* * *

><p>~.~<p>

Every year is a different adventure, a different story.

"Chiyo went to school today." Kashima said randomly as she chomped onto a rice cake Masayuki had brought along. "She said the teacher wants to meet her for summer remedial."

"That's new. What grade is she in?" After staying with his immortal friends for so long, Masayuki was no long surprised by any absurd information thrown to him all of a sudden like a bullet.

"Two years younger than you."

Okay maybe not. Masayuki looked at the god with black lines hanging down from his head.

'_The legendary loli hag._

* * *

><p>~.~<p>

"So you're a fifth grader now?" Kashima asked as she examined Masayuki's new uniform in awe; this is the first time he wore a school attire out. The boy could not help but to let out a grin. "I've started high school."

"High school? What's that?" The god asked in interest, letting go the boy's shirt hem.

"It's a level higher than middle school." Masayuki explained patiently.

"Cool."

* * *

><p>~.~<p>

In a blink of an eye, the once child Masayuki had turned into a sinewy sixteen year old teenager and a new hairstyle.

"Eh… why did you change your hairstyle Hori? It looks good before too!" Kashima pouted unhappily when she saw the sudden change of her once beloved little kid.

"It makes me look younger."

The blue hair maiden raised up her brows, half convinced and amused by the result, but settled to conclude. "Somehow, you look more like a man now."

"You mean I'm a girl before that?" Masayuki asked impassively.

Kashima shook her head and shrieked instead, "Where's my cute brat back then?!"

Masayuki hit her squarely in the face.

Puberty not only meant turning into a man, but also meant violence, or maybe it's just because Kashima is an idiot. But seriously, where was the cute little child she had once adored a lot?

* * *

><p>"By the way Kashima, Chiyo… did you know she's a junior in my school?" Masayuki mumbled as he sat on the stairs of Kashima's shrine, drinking a cup of tea.<p>

"Eh? Really? What a surprise!" The rain god scuttled to his side hastily, almost spilling her own tea on the teen, Masayuki's eye twitched in distaste, but the blue hair maiden did not notice it, only sitting down and giving puppy eyes to encourage him to continue.

"… Yeah… It was… really a surprise…"

"_So I've decided to use this scene for Mamiko."_

"_That sounds good!"_

_Masayuki stopped in his tracks as he heard two familiar voices coming to his way. He recognised the first voice, but the second one… though he could not think of anyone, he was very sure that he knew this voice._

"_Then what do you think of this then Chiyo?"_

_The third year's brain nearly stopped functioning for a moment. He tried digesting that sentence and widened his eyes in horror, remembering Kashima telling him about a certain somebody who went to school._

'_Please don't tell me…'_

"_No, please don't Nozaki-kun."_

"_Oh okay then. Ah senior." Masayuki was about to get away when the person named Nozaki called him. After a minute of debate in his mind, the brown hair teen decided to force his face back into his usual casual one and turned around to greet his junior._

"_Hey Nozaki…" He dropped his façade and stared at the all too familiar two big red bows, orange hair, large violet eyes and a petite figure standing next to Nozaki, who blinked her eyes and suddenly gave a comical horrified face._

"_HORI (SAKURA)?!"_

_Their voices could be heard in the entire floor. Everyone within the hearing range paused their ministrations and began looking at them, while Nozaki remained his usual expressionless face and asked in surprise. "Sakura, you know him?"_

Kashima guffawed hysterically on the wooden floor, clutching her stomach and spilling the tea on the ground, "Oh my freaking god hahahahahahahahaha!"

"That's not funny Kashima!" Masayuki yelled back, "I had a heart attack!"

However it only cause her to laugh even louder.

* * *

><p>After ten minutes or so, the rain god finally stopped her laughing fit and wiped the tears off her eyes.<p>

"Sorry about that Hori, but haha, that was really funny." She giggled sheepishly as she patted Hori's shoulders to comfort him. "Looks like the world is really small, you guys could even be in the same school. Man I'm so jealous."

"No you're not going to my school no matter what." Masayuki sent a warning glare, in which the rain god laughed it off.

"Oh come on I can't even leave this place!"

"You better not be."

"Hey how rude!"

Masayuki shuddered as he tried imagining Kashima wearing his school's uniform and waving at him at the front gate. No, absolutely not acceptable.

"I'm just warning you first, in case _someday_ you can_ somehow_ get out of this place." He said, emphasising the two words 'someday' and 'somehow' clearly. Kashima just snorted and drank finish her newly replenished tea.

They continued chatting leisurely about other things and was about to become a debate of whether racoon dogs are much better than trees when an orange head bobbed into their peripheral vision.

"Kashima~!" Sakura waved happily at the two of them as she ran towards them, the long sleeves and the ends of her pink silk kimono danced in the wind.

"Chiyo!"

"Oh no."

* * *

><p>Sakura and Masayuki sat looking at each other in awkward silence till Kashima said, "Seo ate her first grasshopper."<p>

"Wuaaaaaah really? Way to go!" The petite maiden cheered and clapped her hands, "How does she feel?"

"Great. She ate another today." She pointed at the brown animal sleeping in a corner not far away, its furry striped tail curling around the body.

Masayuki stared at the two elated gods speechlessly. That was… random, but considering that was what Kashima likes to do.

"How long have you and Nozaki been together?" He tried another approach, hoping to get rid of the awkwardness as well as the weird conversation fast.

"E-eh?" Sakura's face suddenly flushed a brilliant red, the same colour of her polka dotted bows on her head, hot steam began shooting out from her ears, startling both Kashima and Masayuki.

"Are you alright Chiyo? Your face is flaming!" The rain god panicked and summoned a mini rain cloud to drench the poor girl. Sakura immediately looked wrecked and the human boy looked more speechless, even though the rain managed to put out the blush on Sakura's face.

"Thank-thank you Kashima…" The harvest god said, averting her eyes away from her friends and twiddled her fingers nervously, "Uh… I… I…I… we haven't got married yet though!"

"That escalated too quickly!" Masayuki yelled again, slamming his hands on the small table, the cups shook in their platters.

"But at least they haven't got married." Kashima closed her eyes, folded her arms and nodded as if she understood the situation, but Masayuki forced his fist down on top of her head. "Stop your mindless assumptions!"

Sometimes the boy doubted if it was really a privilege to have gods as friends.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

**It was a certainly a pleasant surprise to see so many people taking a look at this story as this fandom seems to be small due to the short number of episodes Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun had, so I thought it had died a bit more after the ending, however I was proved wrong. Thank you everyone for reading it nonetheless, I appreciate you guys a lot, and the sweet kind reviews really helped me a lot, I might be getting back to my previous stories faster than I thought, so sorry for LEVEL 0. (Bows)**

**P.S. I would actually like to have a boyfriend like Masayuki Hori. He's really cool.**

**Updated: Chiyo's school age is two years younger than Hori, I'm using the same one as the original series. Sorry for the mistake.**


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